Brand Type for Publications

Publication designers understand that the lasting identity of a magazine or a newspaper is its type. The text changes. The pictures change. But, over time readers get familiar with the type. It becomes part of a publication’s personality, its identity. Its brand.

How do you choose the type? Are there different identities for text and display? Do you have to order up a custom font? What about the logo?

These are the questions you consider with the typography of any publication—digital, print, or both.

Roger Black presents three case studies—all custom, and all revivals, to some degree. The first, Rolling Stone, a 1970s custom type by Jim Parkinson, based on 19th century Jensons, has stood the test of time. At least until now.

The 1980s Newsweek commissioned Parkinson to make a black, British Grot, later expanded to many weights and widths by David Berlow, and used by the magazine for 15 years. No longer. But why?

The 1990s revival for Premiere of Dwiggins’ Eldorado by David Berlow was even shorter-lived. The U.S. edition of that magazine shut down in 2007. This typography, Black suggests, should have been timeless.

You be the judge.

The Herb Lubalin Lectures are filmed and made available here and on Vimeo with the generous support of Hoefler&Co.